Thanks Obelixx This is Yorkshire and although we get strong winds it is reasonably protected. Better go out and buy a test kit! flowers and foliage would be good. I am constantly clearing the site so have decided to dig everything out put down weed suppressant plant shrubs and cover with an appropriate stone.

Soil test kits are notoriously unreliable or difficult to interpret.To get a general idea of your local soil conditions there's a DEFRA website that will tell you.Just go the the Search tab and enter your postcode.A photo of the area you're going to plant up would also help if possible.Then let us know and be prepared to get lots of suggestions

Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

If you can give them a protected wall, Abelia Grandiflora make a nice glossy backdrop when not in flower. Caryopteris Clandonensis will thrive if you have free draining soil. Almost like a herbaceous perennial, they need to be cut down every spring, for fresh new growth to form and in late summer masses of blue flowers cover the shrub for a long period. Romneya Coulteri also thrives in similar conditions. Massive poppy like flowers fill the shrub in the summer.

Phsyocarpus make lovely shrubs. There are lots of great colours, and some lovely blossom in Spring. We used to have Diabolo, which is chocolate brown in colour. If you want a more dwarf variety in the same colour, Little Devil is wonderful. They can take hard pruning too.